EVENTS

MAY

Meeting on Health Technologies That Transform Care

San Francisco

MAY

Summit on States' Implementation of Health IT Initiatives

Baltimore

MAY

West Coast Summit on Using Health Data To Boost Care

San Francisco

View All Events

FROM THE FOUNDATION

Informing Choices, Improving Outcomes

The California Joint Replacement Registry collects data on device efficacy, surgical techniques, and patient outcomes for hip and knee replacements. A new report details how this CHCF-sponsored effort is faring.

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Friday

Tavenner Says CMS Will Review ICD-10 Implementation Timeline

Today, acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner indicated that CMS could delay the transition to the ICD-10 coding system. The American Medical Association has criticized the switch to ICD-10 code sets, saying the health care industry already is overburdened by requirements under the federal health reform law and health IT incentive programs. Modern Healthcare et al.

Obama's FY 2013 Budget Plan Boosts ONC Funds, Cuts HHS' OCR Spending

President Obama's proposed fiscal year 2013 budget would increase the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's budget by 8% to $66 million. The proposal also includes a 5% cut in spending for HHS' Office for Civil Rights, which enforces HIPAA. GovInfoSecurity.

UnitedHealth Launches Cloud Platform for Data Exchange, Health Apps

UnitedHealth Group's Optum health-services unit soon will launch a cloud-computing platform that will allow health data exchange and offer health-related applications. Initially, the apps will be aimed at health providers and insurers but eventually could be expanded to focus on consumers. Wall Street Journal.

Smartphone-Based Psychological Therapy Produces Mixed Results

Several recent studies show promising results from computer and smartphone applications that offer therapy for social anxiety and similar conditions. However, other research shows there is much work to be done to determine how effective the applications are. New York Times.

Where Is the Love? EHRs Used To Identify Top 'Lovesick' States

Practice Fusion analyzed more than 2.8 million de-identified electronic patient records to rank states based on symptoms associated with being in love. Vermont had the highest prevalence of such symptoms, while North Dakota had the lowest. Idaho Statesman, Practice Fusion release.

Center for Democracy & Technology's McGraw Discusses Health Data Privacy Challenges

Deven McGraw, director of the Health Privacy Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, spoke with iHealthBeat about the challenges of protecting health data privacy.

Running Time: 5:18

DATA POINTS

What Do Surveyed U.S. Physicians Report as Being Benefits of Using Health IT Systems?

Nearly 58% of surveyed U.S. physicians believe health IT has helped improve care coordination across different settings and service boundaries, more than 57% believe it has improved access to quality clinical research data and more than 56% say it has improved cross-organizational working processes, according to an Accenture survey.

FEATURES

EHR Data Not Ready for Prime Time, Studies Show

by Ken Terry, iHealthBeat Contributing Reporter

Several federal health care programs rely on electronic health record data for publicly reported quality measurement and performance-based payments, but findings from recent studies may cast doubt on the reliability of that data.

COMMENTS (3)

"It is not that EHR data is not ready for Prime Time, but rather certain vendors are not ready. Many mainstream, large vendors do not fully understand medical informatics and these same vendors still rely on Claims data (like ICD-9 or ICD-10) for the..."

- David Winn

PERSPECTIVES

Meaningful Use in Year Two and Beyond: Informing the Efforts of RECs

by Christopher Harle and Nir Menachemi

Given the many known obstacles, it's not surprising that participation in the first year of the meaningful use incentive program was relatively low. Regional extension centers must work to better disseminate information aimed at reducing physicians' uncertainty about electronic health record adoption.

COMMENTS (6)

"So only 173,000 out of a total of 800,000 doctors register and less than 87,000 apply for MU payment. That makes about 11% benefiting from MU. Since before MU more than than were claimed to be using an EMR, that means even those with a certified EMR ..."

- Michael Milne